IT contractor market

[pitzzapia]

Is it me, or is the IT contractor market a terrible place to be in at the moment. Although I am currently in contract, I am completley bored out of my mind and am looking for a new challenge. However when trawling through the job sites and speaking with recruiters, there seem to be at least 50 applicants per position! On top of this, only 1-3 meaty roles seem to be advertised per day. Is there anyone else out there struggling to find a decent contract out there? Any applicable recruiters that are also PistonHeaders?

Cheers.

[spikeyhead]

Its the middle of the holiday season. I'm finding that a lot of the people that need to make decisions are away when I call them.

Give it a couple of weeks and you'll get a true reflection of where the market is. I suspect that its not too good but I don't think its possible to tell right now.

[gopher]

Can't say personally but speaking to my brother and he's coming to the end of his contract and his phone is very busy from various agencies however he's noticed a downturn on rates in the order of 10-15%.

[KimmyM]

As a recruiter I'm finding where just not getting the feedback for the candidates which is becoming very difficult, Some contracts are thankfully more understanding then others but the contract market has dropped and I would avoid contracting at banks at the moment

[pitzzapia]

I have been patient so far as I'm not out of work, but it can still be frustrating nevertheless. I dont care if I didnt get though, I just want to know either way. I suppose you have to go in with the mentality that they are on your side and its beneficial for them to actually place you in a decent job. Unfortunately Banks (FS industry) is my area of expertise so no wins there.

I heard from a colleague that some recruiters post dummy jobs on jobsites just to fish for contacts. Do you think that still happens?

[plasticpig]

Shouldnt this be in the business section? You appear to speaking like an employee rather than someone who runs their own business,

[cs02rm0]

pitzzapia said:

I heard from a colleague that some recruiters post dummy jobs on jobsites just to fish for contacts. Do you think that still happens?

Definitely.

[spikeyhead]

cs02rm0 said:

pitzzapia said:

I heard from a colleague that some recruiters post dummy jobs on jobsites just to fish for contacts. Do you think that still happens?

Definitely.

I always phone up the recruiter and have a chat about the position. Its easy enough to tell if its a dummy advert.

[KimmyM]

I've never put a dummy advert up myself and I've been in this market 2 years now. Saying that I work for clients that have been with the company years so were on PSL's (Prefered supplier list)

Best thing to do is keep looking and if your looking at the banking/financial sector don't be expecting £400+ a day as it's just not happening at the moment. Saying that I'd be happy to live off £200 per day

[E36GUY]

pitzzapia said:

I heard from a colleague that some recruiters post dummy jobs on jobsites just to fish for contacts. Do you think that still happens?

Definately. If you're working a niche market you need to keep an up-to-date list of candidates available. If a role comes in there is a lot of competition so if you already know who is available, how much they cost etc then you can send three or four people over immediately.

Recruiters only advertising after they've got a job on will be left behind as those of us that are pro-active will have filled it already.

Oh, and YHM

[KimmyM]

E36Guy - Otherways of doing that then wasting peoples time and money on advertising and thats BUILDING UP RELATIONSHIPS.... It's recruiters that waste candidates time that give consultants bad names.

[Metroarea]

KimmyM said:

I've never put a dummy advert up myself and I've been in this market 2 years now. Saying that I work for clients that have been with the company years so were on PSL's (Prefered supplier list)

Best thing to do is keep looking and if your looking at the banking/financial sector don't be expecting £400+ a day as it's just not happening at the moment. Saying that I'd be happy to live off £200 per day

£400+ a day not happening anymore?!

I work predominently with banks and the last 10 people I've placed over the last 2 months have averaged £550 a day. Yes there have been widespread rate cuts but if you are in a reasably niche technology area you should stick to your guns and not let them knock your rates down quite yet. Even people who are being affected by rate cuts in current contracts can be ringfenced if they are valuable enough to a project.

We're busier than we've ever been in terms of roles coming in and placements. Contract numbers are up and we're doing alot more high end perm too.

There's no point talking your own market down Kimmy - remember that to an extent you can control rates too. If you're telling people to take less money and letting your clients knock people's rates down then you will end up adding to this "correction" in rates. If you stick to your guns and sell your candidates in properly as highly skilled niche contractors who are a cut above the rest and can ultimately save your client money, then they should pay you premium rates for premium skills.

[pincher]

Do any of you recruitment chappies ever deal with Charles River?

[GnuBee]

The market, is as always, very skills sensitive. Rates and roles for C# and .NET for example do not seem to be suffering. I've seen 90k FTE + 40% bonus offered for c#,.NET architecture roles in the city if you've got financial/banking. Day rates of 450+ still seem to be out there...

[MarkoTVR]

Metroarea said:

£400+ a day not happening anymore?!

Just what I was thinking. Decent rates are still to be had, even outside London. Less frequent maybe, but.....

[KimmyM]

Metroarea said:

KimmyM said:

I've never put a dummy advert up myself and I've been in this market 2 years now. Saying that I work for clients that have been with the company years so were on PSL's (Prefered supplier list)

Best thing to do is keep looking and if your looking at the banking/financial sector don't be expecting £400+ a day as it's just not happening at the moment. Saying that I'd be happy to live off £200 per day

£400+ a day not happening anymore?!

I work predominently with banks and the last 10 people I've placed over the last 2 months have averaged £550 a day. Yes there have been widespread rate cuts but if you are in a reasably niche technology area you should stick to your guns and not let them knock your rates down quite yet. Even people who are being affected by rate cuts in current contracts can be ringfenced if they are valuable enough to a project.

We're busier than we've ever been in terms of roles coming in and placements. Contract numbers are up and we're doing alot more high end perm too.

There's no point talking your own market down Kimmy - remember that to an extent you can control rates too. If you're telling people to take less money and letting your clients knock people's rates down then you will end up adding to this "correction" in rates. If you stick to your guns and sell your candidates in properly as highly skilled niche contractors who are a cut above the rest and can ultimately save your client money, then they should pay you premium rates for premium skills.

That's Due to me NOT BEING IN SALES.... I can't sell people through to clients we've been working for years with. Thankfully this past month has really really picked up and where busier then ever.
The other point is I don't work for Banking and don't particularly feel the need to at the moment.

[E36GUY]

KimmyM said:

Best thing to do is keep looking and if your looking at the banking/financial sector don't be expecting £400+ a day as it's just not happening at the moment. Saying that I'd be happy to live off £200 per day

Absolute balls I'm afraid. We've got several roles on with banks at well over £400/day. And me personally, roles paying up to £750/day in the transport sector.

Banking not a brilliant place to be but the roles and rates are still there.

[MadDad]

I found myself in the contract market by accident last year when I was made redundant, I have been lucky and stumbled from one contract to another however things seem to have slowed down at the moment.

As an IT Project/delivery manager I have been able to secure a day rate of £600/650 per day but most of the positions advertised at the moment seem to be around the £400 mark.

Work in the private sector seems to have slowed however I have noticed that the MOD, NHS and other govn't agencies seem to have work - trouble is day rates are not great and locations are usually the back end of beyond............

While I am at it if anyone is looking for a project manager with IDM experience I know one

[KimmyM]

I didn't say "anymore" I'm said "at the moment" there's a difference and it's significant. Thankfully I rarely work in the banking sector so I don't have this problem I was reiterating my colleagues experience's that they are finding at the moment.

Generally I'm finding that the market has really picked up in the last week or two and where busier then we have been in the past 3/4 months.